College Tennis News - Gustavus men's tennis defreats Kalamazoo and Wartburg

The Gusties traveled last weekend to Milwaukee to play Kalamazoo for the 16th straight year. Usually this has been a showdown between the top two teams in the Midwest Region. During the 90's Kalamazoo won every time, but starting in 2000 the outcomes reversed. This year Gustavus prevailed again with an 8-1 victory, marking the tenth straight victory in the series. Gustavus swept the doubles, but every match was closely contested. In singles John Kauss, the nation's #1 ranked player, was the first to finish. Ben Tomasek, Kevin Stickney, and Pat Clark followed closely with straight set victories to give the Gusties a 7-0 lead. The last two matches went longer with Charlie Paukert winning at #3 singles and Mike Burdakin losing at #2.

Meanwhile other Gustie players traveled to Waverly, IA to play Wartburg. This was a makeup for a match scheduled two weekends before. Ashok Jethwa led the way with an exciting 11-9 third set super breaker win at #1 singles. The Gusties won two out of the three doubles and four out of the six singles for a 6-3 victory. Now the season record stands at 21-8, marking the 24th consecutive year that the Gusties have won 20 victories or more.

On Saturday, April 25 Gustavus completes its regular season with matches against Macalester at 9:30 a.m. and St. Thomas at 2 p.m. If outdoors the Macalester match will be played on its campus, but if indoors action will be at 7 p.m. at the Lifetime Fitness-Moore Lake club, which is north of 694 on Central Ave. The match with St. Thomas will be at Moore Lake at 2 p.m. if outdoors and at 4 p.m. if indoors. Rain has been in the forecast, so either is a possibility.

GUSTAVUS         8     Kalamazoo    1               Milwaukee, April 19, 2009

1) John Kauss/Mike Burdakin (GA) def. Jason Brown/Cyrus Jadun (K) 9-8 (7)
2) Charlie Paukert/Ben Tomasek (GA) def. Josh Rinaldi/Pat Boyd (K) 8-5
3) Nick Hansen/Kevin Stickney (GA) def. Joe Unger/Nate Eddy (K) 8-6
Exhibition: Pat Clark/David Koppel (GA) def. Tom Cafemeyer/Alex Dombos (K) 8-6

1) John Kauss (GA) def. Cyrus Jadun (K) 6-2, 6-1
2) Pat Boyd (K) def. Mike Burdakin (GA) 7-6 (2), 6-2
3) Charlie Paukert (GA) def. Nate Eddy (K) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
4) Ben Tomasek (GA) def. Josh Rinaldi 6-3, 6-1
5) Kevin Stickney (GA) def. Alex Dombos (K) 6-4, 6-4
6) Pat Clark (GA) def. Tom Cafemeyer 6-4, 6-3
    Exhibition: Nick Hanson (GA) def. Joe Unger (K) 8-2

GUSTAVUS   6     Wartburg   3               Waverly, IA, April 19, 2009

1) Mitch Eslick/Tom Koenen (W) def. Ashok Jethwa/Krishan Jethwa (GA) 9-8 (4)
2) Daniel Pomeranc/Ryan Hallsten (GA) def. Andrew Kahler/Chris Buckingham (W) 8-6
3) Brooks Stapleton/Pat Pisani (GA) def. Walker Wilson/Aaron Masterson (W) 8-0
Exhibition:         Theo Roth/Eric Ice (GA) def. Pat Mullen/Chris Gustas 8-1

1) Ashok Jethwa (GA) def. Mitch Eslick (W) 5-7, 6-3 (11-9)
2) Daniel Pomeranc (GA) def. Chris Buckingham (W) 6-1, 6-1
3) Tom Koenen (W) def. Ryan Hallsten (GA) 6-2, 6-2
4) Andrew Kahler (W) def. Theo Roth (GA) 6-4, 6-2
5) Krishan Jethwa (GA) def. Aaron Masterson (W) 6-1, 6-2
6) Eric Ice (GA) def. Pat Mullen (W) 6-2, 6-1
Exhibition:        Brooks Stapleton (GA) def. Chris Gustas (W) 6-2, 6-2
Pat Pisani (GA) def. Walker Wilson (W) 8-3